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goodguyeli 's review for:
And We Stay
by Jenny Hubbard
I'm not really sure how I feel about this book. I mean, I finished it in a short period of time and it didn't bore me to death. I guess to be fair, it's 2.5 stars.
So Emily Beam's boyfriend (Paul Wagoner) comes to school one day and somehow manages to accidentally shoot himself. He did this as part of some underwhelming backstory involving the demise of their relationship. Yeah, I didn't really care for Emily or Paul. At first, you feel kind of bad because he's dead. But through flashbacks, it is revealed that he is just an average high school boy. He's immature and rather unintelligent and not actually that great of a boyfriend even though it feels like Jenny Hubbard is trying to convince you that he is. I didn't even care for Emily, who has some strange connection with Emily Dickinson. I don't even feel like going into detail because that, too, was underwhelming.
The writing is alright, but I felt disconnected at times. I'm not sure if this was because I couldn't relate to the narrator (Emily) or because the plot was just that boring. But I did like that at the end of every chapter, there was a poem done by Emily Beam on the next page. They were pretty good, but still not amazing.
I just really could have done without this novel. I couldn't relate to any of the characters and it just felt like there was something missing the whole novel. Like it could have been pretty great, but there were holes and inconsistencies. However, I did learn a little bit of information about Emily Dickinson.
As an aside, I'm not sure who nominates new YA books for grand awards. That in itself makes this all the more atrocious.
So Emily Beam's boyfriend (Paul Wagoner) comes to school one day and somehow manages to accidentally shoot himself. He did this as part of some underwhelming backstory involving the demise of their relationship. Yeah, I didn't really care for Emily or Paul. At first, you feel kind of bad because he's dead. But through flashbacks, it is revealed that he is just an average high school boy. He's immature and rather unintelligent and not actually that great of a boyfriend even though it feels like Jenny Hubbard is trying to convince you that he is. I didn't even care for Emily, who has some strange connection with Emily Dickinson. I don't even feel like going into detail because that, too, was underwhelming.
The writing is alright, but I felt disconnected at times. I'm not sure if this was because I couldn't relate to the narrator (Emily) or because the plot was just that boring. But I did like that at the end of every chapter, there was a poem done by Emily Beam on the next page. They were pretty good, but still not amazing.
I just really could have done without this novel. I couldn't relate to any of the characters and it just felt like there was something missing the whole novel. Like it could have been pretty great, but there were holes and inconsistencies. However, I did learn a little bit of information about Emily Dickinson.
As an aside, I'm not sure who nominates new YA books for grand awards. That in itself makes this all the more atrocious.